Benders of The 21st Century
by JR-CreativeGenius
Summary: In the year 2015 a genetic mutation occurs and half of all children born will have the ability to bend one of the four elements. Air, Water, Earth, or Fire. In an ultra-real series find out what happens in the year 2030 when all benders are 15 years old. Follow Kaden as he faces the responsibly and power that comes with being a bender in the 21st Century.


Chicago

April, 28, 2030

"Kaden, where is he?" Dad looked around nervously and he had his finger on the

trigger ready to shoot.

"Kaden, hurry up, where did he go?!"

I put my other hand on the damp cobblestone floor of the subway.

I still couldn't feel any movement. It didn't make any sense.

I looked at my father and muttered, "I don't understand. He was running down the stairs a second ago."

"Then why can't you sense him?" My Dad interrupted impatiently. He didn't look at me for a second when he spoke. His eyes were wide as he swiveled his head in all directions.

"I don't know. It's like he vanished."

"He's probably standing on something metal and you just can't…" My dad paused for a second before asking,"Kayden, Do you feel the subway train down there?"

I could feel the weight of the train but there weren't any vibrations on the stone so I knew it wasn't moving. Suddenly, I felt a small vibration on the stones under the subway track.

"Dad! He's on the subway!" I was already running down the stairs and my Dad was chasing after me.

"Hurry dad! The train started and he's gonna get away!"

We made it down the first flight of stairs in half a second and we turned the corner to the main entrance. One or two people watched us sprint by. Luckily there weren't any officers there but unfortunately in their place there was a full size roto-gate.

I stopped dead in my tracks just before the metal contraption and looked back at my

Dad.

"What are you waiting for? Take it down!" He demanded, suddenly.

I turned back to the rotogate and quickly swept both arms to the right. The wall next to the rotogate exploded outward and demolished the obstacle. My dad jumped ahead of me and was already hopping over the debris. He turned down the next set of stairs and I was soon to follow. I began running down the steps at full speed and I saw my dad vanish out of view at the bottom. The moment I lost visual sight of my dad I felt a human figure somehow appear, from thin air, right next to my father. It was a blurry vision that flickered on and off due to the fact that I was running down stairs so my feet only made contact with the ground every step. Also, the bottoms of my shoes were only open just beneath my toes giving me limited contact with the earth. This vision lasted for a second or so before I leapt from the steps into the subway station. However, my earth vision wasn't messed up. There was a man standing behind my dad. Almagro… the man we were looking for.

I saw that my dad's hands were in the air, empty, and his gun was on the ground. The subway was moving behind him. But Almagro wasn't on the subway like I had thought. Instead he was standing behind my dad, holding a gun to his head. My dad turned to me very slowly and didn't say a word. With the slightest motion of his head I could tell he wanted me to stand back. His eyes pleaded for me to not do anything stupid. He seemed calm like he knew he had the situation under control. Or was he just acting that way? I took a step back. Almagro quickly swiveled his head to face me. Roaring wind from the speeding train wildly blew Almagro's thick black hair in front of his face. At the same time he jammed the gun even closer to my dad's head. A disgusting sly smile was smeared on Almagro's face. I raised my arms above my head as Almagro pulled a second gun out of his trench coat. I stared him in the eyes with my most intimidating glare, refusing to show fear. Almagro slowly and flimsily raised the second gun in my direction.

"Stop," I choked. To my surprise, Almagro stopped raising the gun.

"Lower the gun now," I said in a more confident voice. Almagro did the opposite and aimed the gun at my head. His smile widened. I still wouldn't back down even with my dad slowly shaking his head. In my most serious voice I announced, "I will not hesitate to kill you if you do not drop your weapons." I slowly lowered one hand and pulled my right sleeve up to reveal my earthbending tattoo.

''So, you're an earthbender." Almagro's deep raspy voice echoed throughout the empty subway tunnel.

"Yes, I am an earthbender," I declared, raising my sleeve even more.

Almagro smile widened to impossible width. Then he uttered the words, "just another reason… to kill you-"

With my earth sense I felt his finger tighten ever so slightly on the gun he had pointed at me. I reacted on instinct and suddenly lurched forward before Almagro could fully finish his sentence. I whipped my arm forward and a wave of dust and pebble sized rocks exploded from the ground. I only meant to hit Almagro but my dad received at least half of the attack, straight to his face. The two men went spiraling back in opposite directions, separated by the earth that rushed between them. Almagro dropped both guns to shield his eyes, before slipping on the sand particles and falling on the cobblestone ground. My dad sailed at least a foot off the ground before landing hard on his back, with a loud, "Arghh."

The ground wasn't enough to stop my dad's momentum, and he slid back to a point where his head was just over the train track. The last car of the train was there, just a few moments before.

I immediately rushed over to help my dad. I jumped down to a kneeling position next to him, and pulled him off the track as I saw a second train approaching in the distance. Dad's eyes were closed.

"Dad!" I screamed. I looked back at Almagro who was starting to stand up.

"Come on Dad, get up!"

"He's dead. You killed him boy."

Tears began rolling down my face. With a raging ferocity I spun around, pieces of rock flew from the ground and collected on my fist. Almagro was picking up a gun, but I slammed him to the ground with the impact of my rock fist. I don't know how but the rocks on my fist shattered from the punch. Even though Almagro was now on his back ten feet away from me he did not appear to be injured. I expected his head to be bleeding at least, but there was no blood. I quickly dove down, grabbed the gun, and aimed it at Almagro with both hands. Almagro pushed himself up off

the ground and onto his knees.

"There is nothing you can do Almagro! You're trapped!" My voice shook as well as the gun in my hand. My focus was all on Almagro. I had him cornered. He did nothing but hold his hands above his head. But what now? Should I wait for dad to get up? He would probably know what to do. My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Almagro.

"Your father is awake…" he said.

On instinct I looked back and saw that my father was still on the ground. Not moving.

"You liar!" I screamed and rotated my whole body to face Almagro. I was ready to shoot that low-life. However, instead of seeing Almagro on his knees ten feet away from me, just how I saw him half a second ago, I saw nothing but his face, directly in front of mine. The surprise caused me to freeze and just whisper one word.

"How?"

Before I could react, Almagro grabbed the gun and wrapped his arm around my neck. I felt the gun jab the bottom of my chin. Then I felt Almagro's hot breath on my ear as he whispered.

"I need a hostage for when the real police arrive. I can fight them myself but I prefer to keep my suit clean. Move and you will die."

Almagro roughly shoved me ahead of him and we stood in position to board the second subway train. The train stopped just in front of us, and it was empty. Even though it was empty Almagro hid the gun out of view in his sleeve and loosened his grip around my neck. We were just about to step onto the train when out of nowhere a gunshot rang through the subway. I felt the bullet whiz by my head. A few drops of blood hit my face. I didn't feel any pain. The bullet didn't hit me. I saw Almagro's face twisted in anger. He pushed me back and I saw him drop his hand just below his arm. There was a hole in his black striped suit.

"Kaden Run!" I looked at the source of the voice and it was my Dad. He was on the ground with a gun in his hand. Shocked that he was alive, I ignored his command and yelled, "Dad! You're okay!"

Suddenly I felt a small movement under the now moving subway train. Then, a section of the train exploded from the track and crashed onto the subway station. Even though the train wasn't moving very quickly, the subway cars behind the one that derailed pushed the train farther off the track. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion and I watched in horror as the train cars slid right over the cobblestone and on top of my Dad. When the screeching noise finally stopped my Dad's back was completely under the train. I ran over to him and stopped just before him. His eyes were open and he was looking at me. With all my strength I lifted my arms up and two pillars of rock pushed the train up off my dad. When I looked back down at him his eyes were closed and he wasn't breathing.

Author's Note: This is the first chapter of my Benders in The 21st Century Series. I hope you enjoyed it so far. I would love to hear what you think.


End file.
